The Genius of Miles

By

Stuart Isacoff

Feb. 5, 2014 4:25 p.m. ET

Cambridge, Mass.

Icon, virtuoso, revolutionary, provocateur, the "Prince of Darkness" and a shining light, trumpeter Miles Davis was to jazz what Johannes Kepler was to planetary motion—radically redefining the way we think about the subject. And he did so more than once, shifting styles relentlessly like the boxer he wanted to be—darting musically from here to there, changing up his approaches unexpectedly, feinting just...